Alice Schmidt

Free of the plantar fasciitis she suffered last year, the former Tar Heel has her sights on running the 800 in Beijing

Since you're an 800 runner, you wouldn't tend to do cross country and road races and things like that, so in months like October or November, what are you usually doing? Are you taking a break, or doing a long base build-up?AS: I usually take three or four weeks "down" to "off" after I finish competing every year. So in November I'm just maybe building back some base mileage. There's a Dirt Dog cross country racing series here in San Diego. There's a big circuit of not just road races but cross country races and things. And we have the Carlsbad 5000 every spring. These are some events that I've done, but I'm always very low key at those things. You're right, it's not like I'm out there taking appearance money in the pro race. This year I ran in the "age group" section of Carlsbad. Certainly I wouldn't have wanted to have run in the elite section. It's nice to get into a competitive situation. It makes it a little more stakes than just a little tempo run I would do in the park on my own. I think races can be a great training tool. But I'm certainly not running half marathons on the road.

There are people like our site's photographer, who goes everywhere, and the pundits at letsrun.com, who have tabbed you as favorite for the 800 at the Olympic Trials. What are your thoughts on that?AS: I didn't know that. I was talking to Akiba McKinney, who's a long jumper at the (Olympic) Training Center (in Chula Vista), yesterday. We were actually having a conversation about those polls at lunch. She was saying "oh, I've seen these polls. Either way, it motivates me. If I see that I'm the winner, I'm like 'oh, I need to go for it.'" And then she said "of course, if it shows me that I'm getting fourth, then I tell myself 'well, I'm going to show them." But I was telling Akiba that those things are great, I love that someone out there thinks that I'm worthy. But I need to do the work. You can't just look at that and get confidence from that. It means nothing when it comes down to stepping on the track. So I just try to focus on my workouts one day at a time and maximizing every day that I have. That's the only thing that I can control. What a bunch of people think in a room somewhere is nice, but I actually have to get the work in.

Are you living outside the Olympic Training Center but doing most of your workouts there?AS: Yeah. This year. In January, my husband, who just joined the movie, has gone to the East Coast to do a few months of training. So when he did that, I moved on site to the Olympic Training Center. And I still keep that room there, but we're now living in a house in Coronado. I'm sort of between the two places. But my weights and my therapy and things are at the Olympic Training Center. Sometimes I'll do workout on some really soft tracks in the San Diego neighborhoods, but I'd call the Training Center my primary training location. Everyone there is super-kind and willing to bend over backwards to help people out. When I had that plantar fasciitis earlier this year, they were really helpful in trying to help me get therapy. Of course it can be a frustrating injury, but they were a big part of my turning it around.

You're not the same kind of 800-runner that your coach, Joaquim Cruz, was, are you? He was a frontrunner a lot of the time.AS: That was definitely what he did most. But I've heard of him say to me, when discussing race strategy, anything along the lines of "well, you're not like me here." He's always saying "you're a LOT like me. You're all heart. You have a really long stride. You need to be up front." I actually don't think of it in terms of how similar to him I am. In addition, he's amazing. It would be really hard to compare yourself to the Olympic champion. So I just try to focus on how I run the 800. I've seen some of his races. I think getting out hard can be a really great strategy because you have to do less work fighting with pack. "Pre" was a great example of that. I may have had more on my second lap if I hadn't been on the outside of lane one, into lane two, and bobbing and weaving with the competition. It is easy to be up front, but you have to have the leg speed to do that. And the courage. There are a lot of factors. I think each specific race definitely warrants a different race plan. I'm just working on different strategies this year — coming from the front, coming from behind — and just trying to build up my arsenal.

You mentioned it. Traffic always seems to be an issue in women's 800s. It's hard just to find your own running room, isn't it?AS: It is tough. That's one thing about the 800 that's always a big "X" factor. And I think that's one of the reasons I get really nervous sometimes before races. Well, two things. One, it's extremely painful. And two, yeah, you don't know what race strategy is going to happen. You know, for example, that the high schooler, Chanelle Price, likes to go out really hard. So you're like "okay, I can probably count on this happening." But from second to fifth place, it could be extremely bunched up. Sometimes I find myself on the rail, out of luck, and you just have to wait for something to open up. Or at Prefontaine, with about 400 meters to go, I had to slow down dramatically, draw back and get around Shannon Rowbury. I didn't want to cut her off in front. That makes it a little fun. It adds another factor. I think it's okay.